Knife and scissors sharpener.



W. P. GRAY & J. H. DUNCAN.

KNIFE AND SGISSORS SHARPENBR.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 30, 1912.

1,981,606, Patented Dec. 16, 1913.

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WILLIAM I. GRAY AND JAMES H. DUNCAN, 0F CAMPBELLTON, NEW BRUNSWICK,CANADA.

KNIFE AND SCISSORS SHARPENER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 16, 1913.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, WILLIAM P. GRAY and JAMES H. DUNCAN, residing atCampbellton, Province of New Brunswick, Canada, have invented certainnew and useful Improvements in Knife and Scissors Sharpeners, of whichthe following is a specification.

This invention relates to sharpening devices for edged tools and moreparticularly to a device designed for use in sharpenlng knives andscissors.

It is an aim of the invention to provide a sharpening device of the typementioned so constructed that the blade to be sharpened will have itscutting edge positioned at the proper angle upon the file which constitutes a part of the device and across which the blade is drawn.

It is a further aim of the invention to provide guides against which theblades of a pair of scissors are to be disposed when sharpening theblades, the guides being so positioned as to hold the scissor blades atsuch an angle as to properly bevel the1r cutting edges.

F or a full understanding of the invention reference is to be had to thefollowing description and accompanying drawing, in which Figure 1 is aperspective view of the sharpening device embodying the presentinvention. Fig. 2 is a vertical transverse sectional view therethroughon the line 22 of Fig. 1 looking in the direction indicated by thearrow. Fig. 3 is a similar View on the line 33 of Fig. 1.

Corresponding and like parts are referred to in the followingdescription and indicated in all the views of the accompanying drawingby the same reference characters.

In the drawing, the device is illustrated as including a supporting bodywhich is indicated by the numeral 1 and is substantially I-shaped incross-section, it being provided at its upper side with laterallyprojecting flanges 2. At one end the body is formed with an arm whichprojects downwardly as at 3 and beneath the body in spaced relationthereto, as at 4. A c1amping screw 5 is threaded through the portion Aof the arm and is adapted to bear against the under side of a table, orlike support upon which the base of the body 1 is disposed. The upperside of the body 1 is flat as clearly shown in Figs. 2 and 3 of thedrawing, and upon the said surface of the body is disposed a flat file6. The file is held in place upon the body 1 by means of a clamp, thebody of which is indicated by the numeral 7 and is formed at oppositeends with depending arms 8 having inwardly projecting fingers 9 engagingbeneath the flanges 2.

A plate 10 is disposed upon the surface of the file 6 beneath the bodyportion 7 of the clamping member and at its inner edge is formed with aflange 11 which projects upwardly at an angle, as illustrated in Fig. 1.By referring to the said figure it will be observed that not only is theflange inclined vertically, but that it extends diagonally across theface of the file 6 out of parallelism with the teeth of the file. Aset-screw 12 is threaded through the body portion of the clamping memberjust described and bears at its end against the upper side of the plate10, thereby not only holding this plate firmly clamped in position, butalso serving to securely clamp the file in place upon the upper side ofthe body 1.

In addition to the guide plate 10 there is provided a guide whichconsists of a plate 13 formed at one edge with an upstanding flange orrest 14 and this plate is formed at its opposite edge with an upstandingflange 15 which is inclined as shown in Fig. 1. This guide plate is heldin place by means of a clamp which consists of a body 16 formed withupstanding arms 17 located at its ends and having each of its armsprovided at its upper end with an inwardly projecting finger 18. Thisclamp is applied by disposing the upper side of its body against theunder side of the file 6 with the fingers 18 projecting over the plate13. A clamp screw 19 is threaded through the body 16 of the clamp andmay be tightened to bear against the under side of the file and causethe fingers 18 to bear firmly against the upper side of the plate 13.

It will be understood that the guide plate 13 is reversible so thateither of its flanges 14: or 15 may be presented toward the middle ofthe file. The flange 14:, it will be readily noted, is higher than theflange 15 or the flange 11 and, consequently, provides a supportespecially adapted for the blade of a pair of scissors or shears. Whenit is desired to sharpen a knife by the use of our device, the guideplate 13 is arranged with the flange 15 between the two clamping membersand the knife blade is placed fiat upon the file with its back restingagainstas will be readily understood. If the blade be then reversed sothat the face which was previously uppermost is brought into contactwith the file and the back of the knife is then placed against the otherguiding flange, the operation may be repeated so that the face which waspreviously uppermost will be minutely shaved in the same manner that theface first acted upon was shaved. The desired cutting edge will thus bequickly produced. It will be noted that the flanges form a rest for theback of the knife, and, as they are disposed at an angle to the set ofthe file teeth, movement of the knife blade while its edge is in contactwith the guide flange will cause the blade to move across the teeth ofthe file and its face will be, consequently, very slightly cut away.Inasmuch as the back of the knife blade is always thicker than itscutting edge, the opposite faces of the blade will be acted upon inintersecting planes and the cutting edge will occupy the angle ofintersection. A few strokes across the file will permit the cutting edgeto enter fully into and fill the said angle and the desired degree ofsharpness will thus be attained. By disposing the guide flanges at-anangle to a vertical plane, the desired bevel upon the edge of a scissorsblade will be produced, inasmuch as one face of theblade will be heldagainst the face of the flange with the beveled edge of the blade incontact with the teeth of the file, and, as the blade is drawn acrossthe file, sufficient pressure will be placed thereon to hold it incontact with both the file and the guide flange.

It will be noted that the clamping members are identical in constructionbut that the clamping member 17 has its inwardly extending fingers orlips disposed above the file, while the other clamping member has itslips or fingers below the file and the supporting body. By reason ofthis identity of construction, either clamping member may be used ateither end of the supporting body and the clamping member at the outerend of the supporting body may be so disposed that the set-screw carriedthereby will be below the file and the support and, therefore, out ofthe way of the-person using the device. The construction permits thefile to be readily adjusted so that a convenient portion of the workingface thereof may be exposed or the inner clamping members may beadjusted longitudinally of the supporting body.

It will be readily understood that if a narrow blade is being sharpened,less space will be required between the guide flanges to accommodate thesame than if a relatively larger blade was being sharpened, and, if thesame space was maintained between the two guide flanges for-both blades,it would be necessary to move the narrower blade through anunnecessarily long path in shifting it from one flange to the other, butby moving the flanges before the sharpening operation is commenced theshifting movement of the blade may be properly reduced and the liabilityof theblade being nicked by contact with some part of the device orcutting the fingers ofthe operator through excessive movement will bereduced. It will also be noted that the guide plates are independentof'each other and should one plate become broken or bent through longcontinued use so as to lose its utility a new guide plate may besubstituted for the samewithout requiringa new set of guide plates. Theplates may be independently adjusted relative to the file according tothe desires or convenience of any individual user.

Having thus described the invention what is claimed as new is A devicefor the-purposes set forth comprising a supporting body having a flattop, a file resting upon-the-said flat top, a guide plate rest-ing uponthe file and having an upstanding flange disposed at an angle to theteeth of-the file, a clamping member fitted around the supporting body,the file and the guide plate, and means mounted in said member to securethe file to the sup port and the guide plate to the file.

In testimony whereof we affix our signatures in presence of twowitnesses.

WILLIAM P. GRAY. JAMES H. DUNCAN.

[L. s.] [n s.]

copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of latents, Washington, 11.0.

